Video: Patrick Deneen on the Constitution and the American Way of Life

“When we think about a constitution, we ought to think more comprehensively,” says Patrick Deneen, the David A. Potenziani Memorial Associate Professor of Constitutional Studies in Notre Dame’s Department of Political Science.

“My interest is in exploring the way that the American Constitution in some ways establishes a way of life that is identifiably distinct from the way that peoples in other nations tend to live their lives.”

Deneen’s research and teaching encompass the history of political philosophy (with special interests in ancient Greek and American political thought), democratic theory, religion and politics, and literature in politics. Deneen is the author of The Odyssey of Political Theory and Democratic Faith, and editor of Democracy’s Literature, The Democratic Soul, and Redeeming Democracy in America.